Vending-machine.



W. MILLARD.

VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG. ze, 191'1.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Sept. 1

H sx gemaal/tto@ gnou/m13 Inv Mmm @513m W. MILLARD.

VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 23, 1911.

1,1 O9, 1 84; Patented Sept. 1,1914.

2 SH-EETSHSHEET Z.

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'I known to me'of applying that principle,

WILLIAM MILLARD. OF NEW YORK, N. Y., COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YOR ASSIGNOR TO ALBALL MANUFACTURING K, A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK.

vENDrNe-MACHINE'.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 1,1914.

Application led August 23, 1911. Serial N0. 645,559.

Be it known that l, 'ILLMM MILLARD, a subject of (reat Britain, residing in the borough of Manhattan, in the city, county, and State of New York. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vending-Machines, of which the following isa specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in vending machines and particularly to improvements in vending machines designed and adapted to vend commodities in the shape of balls; and an object of this invention is to provide a vending machine of the character just 'mentioned which will be simple in construction, comparatively cheap in manufacture and most efficient and durable in operation and use.

Another object of this invention is to provide a vending machine of the character just described with means which will insure the feeding of the balls one by one and which will prevent the bridging of the balls; that is, which will prevent the formation of the balls into layers or lumps, as by caking or sticking together.

A third object of this invention is to provide in a machine of the character above mentioned means for relieving the lowermost layers of the balls from the superincumbent' weight'ofl the balls in the top of the receptacle or 'container and for keeping .the latter balls in a zcondition in which they are free to roll under the infiuence of gravity, when th holes in the feed roller (that is, in what may he called, `perhaps, an unbridged condition.)

` I'nthe ldrawings'illustrating the principle of this inventionl and the best mode now I Figure 1 isa central vertical section through 'my 'new' vending machine; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section on'the line A-A ofFig. l;

Fig.4 3 a section on the'line Bf-B of Fig." 1'; Figfjl is a detailillustrating the coin, Icontrolled mechanism; Fig. is a detail of the lock for the lid; Fig; 6 is a front ele- 'vation Lof a modified form of the roller and Fig. V7 is a section on the yline C-C of Fig.

6; Fig.v 8 is a front elevation of another` form of the roller and-Fig. 9 a side elevation of the same'.

The base a is hollow and carries a casing`v b of glass which `1s somewhat rounded 1n eir turn comes to fall into thecontour or formed with a central swell. ()n the top of the casingl L is fitted an annular cover-plate c the central opening in which is closed by a lid (l. The casing b constitutes the side wall of a receptacle or container the bottom of which is formed by the top e of the base a.. A pair of long screw-bolts f pass through holes in the cover-plate c and their threaded lower ends engage in suitable sockets f formed in the top e 'of the base a. On each of the bolts 7 there is mounted a sleeve or collar f which supports a plate g free to tilt thereon. In the top e there is formed a central hole e and recesses 6; and below the central opening e there is fastened to the top e a chute h which leads to an opening z' formed in the side wall of the base a and across which extends a stopplate z". The chute l1. is provided with a guide-plate or apron h and with a guard plateh. In the side walls of the chuteh there is rotatably mounted the inner end of a shaft j, the outer end of which projects beyond the base a and is there provided with a suitable knob le. J ust within the base a. there is fastened thereto an annular plate m through which passes the shaft j; and between the plate and the chute it there is mounted upon the shaft y' a ratchet wheel n from which projects axially of the shaft j and toward the plate m a series of pins b. The peripheral edge of the ratchet n is formed with radially-disposed lugs 20 and with ratchet teeth g. Pivoted on the/ screwpin 1^ is a pawl s the toe s of which is adapted to engage the teeth q of the ratchet n and the other end of which is connected to one end of a coil spring t, the other end of the latter being fastened to an inwardlyprojecting lug t on the inside of the casing On the side of the ratchet n opposite ,from the pawl s there is pivoted at r on the inside of the casing a a dog u to which is attached the upper end of a coil spring fr the lower end of which is fastened to a lug t" which projects inwardly from the inside of the casing. The toe or free end of the dog uis arranged to engage in succession the teeth of ratchet u" which is mounted fast upon the shaft j closely adjacent to the ratchet s. The spring i.: acting through the dog 'u and the ratchet u brings the ratchet s into position to receive the next coin; that is, it brings the toe s of the pawl s and one other. In a slot in the top of the base a there is fitted a coin chute w through which a coin may be dropped and will then rest upon the shaft y' between a pair of the pins 0,' and the spring c at the end of each feeding operation brings the ratchet s into such a position that the coin is free to fall hetween a pair of the pins 0 (see the position of the pins in Fig. 4 with respect to the coin chute).

Upon the shaft j and in the chute k there is mounted a feedroller or ejector a: which in the preferred form of the invention illustrated in Fig. l is made up of two disks w and three substantially square-shaped plates y the central one of which separatesthe two disks a'- and is turned through an arc of forty-five degrees on the shaft y' with re spect to the two outside plates. The diameter of the disks is in the case illus.- trated substantially equal to the length of one side of the plates y, .from which it results that the corners y of the latter project beyond the rim or peripheral face of the disks, in each of which there are formed a pair of ball-receiving holes m diametri cally opposite each other; and the plates 1/ are so placed with respect to these holes as 'that there is at least one corner y at one side of each hole. However, it will be distinctly understood that, while this arrangement is preferred by me, yet I do not desire to be limited thereto. The holes m of one disk are in staggered relation with respect to the holes of the adjacent disk; that is, the ',holes of one disk are in line axially with solid portions of the other disk and there is one hole for each ninety degrees of arc of the double-disk feed-roller or ejector The corners y form the wall (interrupted, to be sure) of a pair of channels through which the balls in some. cases roll in dropping into the holes and thus the cor. ners serve as guides for the balls. They also serve as agitators which disturb and disarrange the balls and which thereby break up their bridged formation or condition and insure that a ball shall be fed for each quarter-turn of the ejector ai. To facilitate the movement of the balls toward the ejector ai, one edge of the opening e is turned downwardly to form a curved lip c and this lip is formed with slots y to permit the passage of the corners y of the square plates y. 'Ihe guard-plate L prevents the surreptitious movement of the roll by a person passing his hand through the opening z' and also prevents a ball from beingfed by a retrograde or counter-clockwise turn of the feed-roller m. The guideplate or apron 7i holds the balls in the pockets af until they have reached their lowermost position, when they are allowed to tall to the bottom of the chute L and roll against the flange z'.

In the vending of balls of gum which are candied on their outer surface,it has been found that the vballs will bridge or cake together in layers or lumps and that this etlcctually prevents their being fed one by one as is desirable in a vending machine. This raking is found to be produced to a greater or less extent by the weight of the balls in the upper part of the receptacle pressing together the balls in the bottom thereof. To take this pressure of the upper part of the balls from the lower part of the same, there is interposed the tiltable plate g.

The normal turning of the feed-roller in the ordinary operation of the machine will cause the agitators y/ to push upwardly the lowermost balls and to shake the plate g. In this way the balls are furthermore prevented from sticking or caking together and are kept in a condition Where they will roll from above the plate g to below the same and thence into the pockets It is to be observed that the partition wall c, which forms the top of the base a and the bottom of the receptacle for the balls 3 of gum, is dished and this formation ot the wall e tends to cause the balls 3 to feed by gravity toward the feed-roller m,

-The bottom plate 4 of the base a is provided Awith a lock 5, the bolt 6 of which is adapted to engage with the inwardly-projecting liange 7 which extends from the base a. The latter is also formed with an inwardly-extendin ange 8 upon which rests the edge portion of the bottom plate 4.

The lid d overlies the heads of the screw bolts f and prevents access to the latter for the purpose of removing them and thereby dismantling the machine to gain access to the balls 3. The lid d will be locked to the cover plate g; in any suitable manner; for example, it may be .fastened thereto by a screw 9 the head of which lies in a socket l0 formed in the lid and is of such peculiar form as to require a special wrench 1l to unscrewl the same.

Instead of the double-disk rolleran shownl in Fig. l, a single-disk roller z (Figs. 6 and 7) may be used. In this case the disk e is formed with four pockets z. A four-disk ejector 12 is illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9. Each of the disks 13 is formed Vwithl a single pocket and each disk is separated from the one next adjacent to it by means of a plate y. Certain of these plates. areset at an angle with respect to the others. The form of roller shown in Figs. 6 and 7 is adapted for use in small machines, while the roller shown in Figs. 8 and 9 is suited for use in a large or wide machine. Any of the rollers illustrated may be used with the form of coin-controlled mechanism shown in Fig. 4.

I claim:

l. A vending machine having a rotary ejector consisting of a plurality of disks,

pockets, and also agitate such articles.

2. A vending machine having a rotary ejector' consisting of a plurality of disks, each having` pockets on the periphery thereof, and said pockets on one disk being staggered in relation to the pockets on the other disks, and a separating plate, side plates on the sides of the disks, said plates having corners which project beyond the periphery of the disk, so as to form a channel to direct the articles to be vended, to such pockets, and also agitate such articles.

3.'A vending machine having a rotary ejector formed with pockets in its rim face and provided with a side-plate formed with corners which project beyond the rim face and agitate the articles to be vended; and a plate mounted free to tilt above said ejector and arranged to relieve the articles below the plate from the Weight of the articles above the same.

4. A vending machine having a rotary ejector formed with pockets in its rim face and provided at each side with a side-plate formed with corners which project beyond the rim face and agitate the articles to be l vended and form the interrupted lateral walls of a channel for guiding the articles to the pockets; and a plate mounted free to tilt above saidejector and arranged to relievevt'he articles below the plate from the weight ot' the articles above the same.

5. A vending machine having a receptacle the bottom of which is formed with an opening for the escape of the articles to be vended; an ejector mounted in close proximity to said opening and formed with pockets in its rim face and provided at each side with a side-plate formed with corners which project beyond the rim face and agitate the articles to be vended and form the interrupted lateral Walls of a channel for guiding the articles to the pockets; and a plate mounted free to tilt above said opening and arranged to relieve the articles below the plate from the weight of the articles above the same.

6. A vending machine having a receptacle the bottom of which is formed with an opening for the escape of the articles to be vended and the side wall of which is formed with a swell above said opening; a rotary ejector mounted in close proximity to said opening and formed with pockets in its rim face and provided with a side-plate formed with corners which project beyond the rim face and agitate the articles to be vended; and a plate' mounted above said opening free to tilt and arranged to relieve the articles below the plate from the Weight of the articles above the same; said swell direct-ing toward said ejector the articles falling from above said tiltable plate.

Signed at the borough of ManhattamNeW York city this twenty-first day of August, 1911,' in the presence of the two undersigned Witnesses.

JAMES HAMILTON, E. I. MCCARTHY. 

